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Today in History - 24th July

24th July 1567 - Mary Queen of Scots forced to abdicate

458 years ago today, Mary Queen of Scots was defeated by rebellious nobles at the Battle of Carberry Hill and was forced to abdicate the Scottish throne. She was succeeded by her 1-year-old son, who became King James VI of Scotland and would go on to become King James I of England, uniting the English and Scottish crowns.

Mary, who ascended to the Scottish throne aged just 6 days old, had fallen out with much of the mostly Protestant Scottish nobility due to her Catholic faith, as well as their belief that a woman could not be a competent ruler. Tensions grew even higher when she married the Earl of Bothwell, who was accused of murdering her previous husband, Lord Darnley, leading people to suspect that she may also have been involved.

Thus, a number of the Scottish Lords decided that Mary's position as Queen was untenable and assembled an army. Mary and Bothwell assembled one of their own, and the opposing forces met at Carberry Hill. There was little actual fighting, and instead the armies faced off for 6 hours, until Mary, seeing a number of the nobles who had initially supported her abandon her, surrendered and was taken into custody.

Bothwell escaped, fleeing to Orkney, before being captured en route to Norway and spending the rest of his life in a Danish prison. Meanwhile, Mary was taken to Edinburgh and then imprisoned at Lochleven Castle. The following year she managed to escape, and sought refuge in England. However, her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, was wary of her as a potential threat to her throne, and thus Mary spent the rest of her life imprisoned in England, until she was executed at Fotheringhay Castle in 1587.

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